The Third Man's Awakening
by TobyTheTortoise
Summary: Saari, a high school girl, is pretty normal. Wait, I take that back. She isn't normal at all. Her father does things that he really shouldn't be doing to her every day, and she's got a tortoise, unlike anyone else. Anyway, her dad finds out about her girlfriend and ends up raping and killing her, and then Saari finds a mask that helps her get revenge and shows her the human past.
Please note that The Third Man and all other Destiny references belong to Bungie.

Chapter I

It was around 9:30 PM when Saari heard her father pull into the garage. She had always hated her dad, and for a good reason. He'd always go out and get wasted instead of actually going to work, then come home and blame all his problems on her. Then he'd beat her, cut her, and practically all the bad things you can think of. Saari turned off her computer and ran into her room and made sure that it seemed like she'd been doing homework or personal chores for her dad all night. It was her sixteenth birthday tomorrow, and she was planning on getting together with her three friends and having some actual fun. She heard the door open as her dad called her name. "Saari!", he yelled. She turned on her music and put her headphones on so she couldn't hear his screams. She focused on her drawing as she saw him come up the stairs from the corner of her eye. He stood at the entrance to her room and flicked the light on and off to get her attention. She pulled her headphones down so she could hear him while he told her to go downstairs and sharpen his knives. She did as she was told and grabbed the biggest knife she could find and sharpened it, only for it to be cutting into her skin five minutes later. She left the room and went to bed twenty minutes later, with more cuts than she could count.

The next day, she woke up and her dad was gone as usual, unlike the gashes on her body from the previous night, so she turned on her music, covered the wounds, and got ready for school. Saari's school was a Guardian-based school. Many of the teachers were former Guardians who stopped to teach new recruits about the enemies of the City and the rest of the Darkness. She stopped to think about whether she should invite her crush to her birthday get-together or not, and decided against it. 'She'd never like me anyways' Saari thought to herself. She finished packing her backpack, grabbed her helmet, and hopped on her Sparrow to go to school. She'd been studying one of the greatest threats to humanity and the Traveler; the merciless Hive. Every minute she had that was free, she'd use to read about and watch Guardian encounters caught on camera with the Hive. Saari understood why everyone was having nightmares of the Hive. They were not your typical extraterrestrial being. They looked like something straight from an old horror film:very high numbers, weapons created from either the Void or emerald fire, armor made from bone of other creatures, usually painted brown or black, and the eyes. Three emerald eyes in the alignment of a triangle.

Saari had seen a recording from a Warlock stationed on the Moon, which depicted a sort of satanic ritual, and he could understand the Hive Acolytes, Knights and Thrall. They were chanting a prayer to a god called Crota or something like that, she didn't quite remember. A honk from the Sparrow behind her lifted her from her thoughts and she went on to the Tower. After parking her forest green Sparrow, she walked up to the 218th floor where her first class was located. She took a seat at one of the tables and noticed a transmission from the professor, Mr. Herikma. She listened to it as he explained that he'd be out sick today and that there was a new seating chart. She looked at the transmission and watched for her name to pop up on the holochart. It did, and right next to her, the girl of Saari's dreams, right there. Her name was Mariah, and all Saari did when she saw her beautiful green Awoken skin was think of them together forever. But Mariah didn't see Saari like that, in fact, Mariah had dated nearly 16 guys in the school alone. And Saari knew that a human like her had a negative zero percent chance of getting together with pure Awoken beauty and kindness like Mariah.

Ten minutes later, class started and Saari was already becoming awkward due to the closeness of her long time crush. She eventually pulled herself together as Mariah introduced herself. "Name's Mariah," she told Saari. "Saari," she replied. The two girls shook hands and went back to their schoolwork. Saari rolled up the sleeves of her hoodie because of the warmth she felt from Mariah, but immediately regretted it when Mariah tapped her shoulder and asked if she was okay. "What do you mean?," Saari asked the Awoken. "Well I mean you've got scars and gashes all over your arms. I've noticed that people do that a lot when they're depressed. So, are you?" Saari looked down at her arms. "Not really," she said. "My dad goes out and gets drunk every single day and comes home and blames all his shit on me. And then just goes savage." She noticed Mariah's hand reach over and grasp her arm. "I'm sorry to hear it. You can come stay at my place if you want, my parents are really nice to newcomers," the Awoken told Saari. "Thanks. That means like, a lot." Saari went back to studying the relentless enemies of the City, and eventually fell asleep.

When she woke up, there was a sweater draped over her shoulders that she'd noticed Mariah had been wearing when she was awake. She remembered that 2nd period was Mr. Herikma's prep hour. She stretched and put the purple hoodie in her backpack. When she got into the hall, she realized that every classroom had the doors ajar with all the ceiling lights off, and a white light coming from the room. She walked into one and saw the television playing what looked like a scene from a movie, but everyone was crying and holding each other. She found someone she knew, who also looked sad. "What's going on, Lek?" She asked the Exo. He spoke without taking his eyes off the screen. "This transmission just came in from the last surviving Crow of Prince Uldren's fleet. The Prince, the whole Awoken armada, and the Queen herself went against one ship, the Dreadnaught, and it blasted them to shit. The whole fleet," he said. "Oh. Wow. What species was it made from?" Saari asked. Lek shrugged and kept his eyes on the screen.

Saari continued watching as well, as the camera sweeped over the Rings of Saturn, and located the destructive shockwave. Just a giant, black circle inside the rings. After school, Saari rode to her house to get some of her things, and left for Mariah's place. She knocked on the door and Mariah opened up, and the two stood there, Mariah suddenly realizing she'd forgotten about her good deed to Saari and had already put on her pajamas.


End file.
